Perfect weather conditions have greeted the Essendon players this morning as they prepare for the club’s final match of the Ansett Cup series. Having lost their opening two matches of the 2001 Ansett Cup, the Bombers will go into this afternoon’s match against Sydney at Manuka Oval in Canberra looking for some valuable match practice with the season proper less than four weeks away. All-Australian defender Damien Hardwick returns to the Bombers line-up today after a minor ankle injury and he says that despite little riding on the result for Essendon it is a still a match the team want to win.

“Winning can become a habit – it breeds confidence and players always believe they can win no matter what the situation. So itis important that we start winning some games and hopefully that can begin this afternoon,” Hardwick said. “We have got a few blokes out at the moment and in previous games but so have our opposition. You can’t look for excuses – we just have to play better than we have been.”

Essendon will play a Sydney side which can still reach the semi-final stage of the competition should they win comfortably today and Geelong get over the top of Port Adelaide. The Sydney forward line looks exceptional and is likely to include star on-baller Paul Kelly, the elusive Michael O’Loughlin, former Collingwood player Paul Williams and rising star Adam Goodes.

While the Sydney forward six look good, the Bombers defence has been significantly strengthened by the return of brilliant full back Dustin Fletcher and Hardwick. Fletcher will probably take youngster Ryan Fitzgerald and Aaron Henneman or Dean Solomon will take Goodes. Hardwick and Mark Johnson will take Kelly and Williams.

In the midfield, Essendon will welcome back number one ruckman John Barnes who has recovered from knee tendonitis. Barnes running ability makes him a difficult man to match up on and Jason Johnson and his fellow on-ballers will enjoy teaming up with Barnes for the first time since the 2000 Grand Final. The return of Barnes also releases Steven Alessio forward which will stretch the opposition defence.

Up forward, the Bombers will simply want to make sure they convert more chances than they did against Geelong last weekend. Poor kicking was the difference at Colonial Stadium last Friday night where the Bombers found themselves having kicked 1.12 at one stage of the match. It was always going to prove costly in a tight match and so it was when the final siren sounded.